Bryer Schmegelsky’s mother pleads with him to ‘come home safe’

The mother of Bryer Schmegelsky, one of two fugitives from Port Alberni, B.C. who are wanted in connection with three homicides in northern B.C., wants her son to know he is loved. And she wants him to come home.

Someone from Schmegelsky’s family handed journalists a letter on Thursday, July 25 signed “Bryer’s Mom”, imploring the journalists to “please, please read this.”

Bryer Schmegelsky, 18, and his friend Kam McLeod, 19, are still at large as RCMP in Manitoba have begun a door-to-door campaign in Gillam, MB trying to find them. Police now believe they may have left the area.

The young men were charged on July 25 with second degree murder in the death of University of British Columbia professor Leonard Dyck of Vancouver. Dyck’s body was discovered in a rest area along Highway 37 outside of Dease Lake, B.C., a couple of kilometres away from where Schmegelsky’s and McLeod’s camper truck was found burning.

The pair were listed as missing on July 21 by RCMP, then considered suspects by July 23 in Dyck’s death as well as the deaths of two international tourists near Liard Hot Springs. Lucas Fowler and Chynna Deese were discovered shot to death on the side of the road near their van on July 15.

Neither McLeod nor Schmegelsky have been charged in Fowler or Deese’s deaths.

“Bryer is a careing, loveing (sic) boy, that would never hurt anyone,” his mother wrote. “He grew up in a loveing home.

“We miss and love him dearly. We want both boys to come home safe.”

His mother, Deborah Sweeney, told Star Vancouver that she hopes her son sees this message.

No one was home at Sweeney’s partner’s place in Port Alberni on Friday. A young woman left the house but told journalists outside that she was there to let the dog out and water the plants. She had no further comment.

McLeod’s father released a statement to the media earlier in the week saying the family felt like prisoners in their home due to the international media attention.

“I’m sitting at home worrying about my son,” Keith McLeod wrote. “Relentless media hounding us for information that we don’t have. This is what I do know—Kam is a kind, considerate, caring young man always has been concerned about other people’s feelings.

“…we try to wrap our heads around what is happening and hope that Kam will come home to us safely so we can all get to the bottom of this story.”